Part 20 (1/2)

Easing down in the outside ditch, Nathan looked around to make sure no one was close. Seeing the closest to him was across the interstate sixty yards away Nathan keyed his radio. ”Jasmine can you hear me? Over.”

”I hear you Nathan, over,” she answered.

”Can the others hear me? Over,” Nathan asked.

”Yes they can,” Jasmine answered. Nathan waited for the over to tell him she was finished. After a minute he heard, ”Sorry, over.”

”There are people all over this median and some are partying hard. I can tell you some things that shouldn't be happening are, but we can pa.s.s by, over,” Nathan said.

Nathan waited a little while and was fixing to call back when his ear piece went off. ”About how many? Over,” Jasmine asked.

”h.e.l.l, I see several hundred in front of me now and it looks like people are camping all the way down this median, which is four miles long. It could be thousands, over,” Nathan said.

”Are you f.u.c.king s.h.i.+tting me!?” Jasmine shot back. ”Over.”

”Negative on defecating on you, over,” Nathan replied.

”What about going around? Over,” Jasmine asked.

”Negative, we either have to use the fields or go back to where we started and back track to alternate route. Move to me staying in the inside lane and let everyone know not to go to the outside shoulder, over,” Nathan said. He wasn't walking back or making the boys drag that wagon through fields.

”Copy, we are packing up, over,” Jasmine said.

”Jasmine, tell Amanda to keep Athena on a leash beside her and have both Casey and Natalie beside the wagon in case Emma wakes. We can walk by unnoticed from what I've seen, but we can't draw attention, over,” Nathan said.

”We copy and are moving to you, over,” Jasmine said quickly.

”Calm down or you'll make a mistake. Relax and pa.s.s it along. Fear is contagious but so is a relaxed state, over,” Nathan called back.

”Copy,” Jasmine replied in a more normal tone.

Nathan sat in the ditch drinking water and waiting on the others. With his NVG he could make them out easily. They shone brightly walking along the road. The only time they ventured off the shoulder was to move around a car. Nathan turned the thermal off and put it away.

In fifteen minutes he was leading the group again down the shoulder. The only noise they made was the occasional crunch of gravel on the road. With the noise coming from the median they had little to fear of someone hearing it.

As they walked everyone looked at the groups in the woods until they spotted a group with some women tied up to trees and several on the ground with men on them and others around yelling. n.o.body looked into the woods much after that except Nathan and occasionally Howard. Everyone in the group fought tears as they walked quietly down the road. It only took them an hour to clear the four miles because Nathan picked up the pace to get them out of there, hearing the occasional sniffle behind him.

When they were several hundred yards away Nathan prepared to stop, and saying a silent prayer of thanks that Emma had stayed asleep. Everyone gathered around as Amanda stood in front of him. ”What are you doing?” she asked.

”Resting,” he answered.

”Bulls.h.i.+t! We are getting away from here,” she said in a harsh low voice.

”Little girl, watch your mouth! And to let you, know that d.a.m.n wagon gets heavy,” he said looking down at her.

”I'll pull the d.a.m.n thing! Did you see what they were doing to those women?” she whispered harshly.

”Which group?” Nathan asked.

Amanda staggered back from him and Jasmine caught her. ”Nathan, we just want to get away from here,” Jasmine said.

”John and Tom, are you two still good?” Nathan asked quietly.

”Sure, with our packs in the wagon it's actually easier than just carrying packs,” John answered.

”Then head em up and move em out,” Nathan said. Howard grabbed his arm.

”We have to do something,” he told Nathan.

”Oh we are, we're leaving,” Nathan replied.

”We have to help those people,” Howard said, pointing back at the median.

Nathan shook his head. ”I hope you're kidding.”

”No. I know you saw what was going on back there,” Howard said.

”Yep, sure did. I'm getting this group away from that.”

”How can you just walk away?” Howard asked.

”Easy. Turn and start walking,” Nathan replied.

”We can help some of them.”

”No we can't. I have no idea who those people are but there are more than eleven hundred of them. I don't know if you noticed but a lot of that group had military weapons. h.e.l.l, I spotted a hummer with a fifty cal on top. They would wipe us out and take the women in our group to join theirs. I'm getting the h.e.l.l out of Dodge and taking my group with me. You want to stay and die, fine, but let us get a head start,” Nathan said. He turned and started walking down the interstate.

The others followed, leaving Howard standing in the road. Jackie came back. ”Howard, you can't help them, but you have a family you can help. Let's go,” she said, and pulled him after the group.

Chapter 12.

Day 17 It was four a.m. when Nathan led them off the interstate and back into the woods, stopping beside a small lake half a mile from the road. Everyone dropped their gear and collapsed. Counting the ten miles from the camp, they had traveled twenty-six miles. Nathan struggled to sit up. ”John, Amanda, and Jasmine, we have stuff to do before we can sleep,” Nathan said, standing.

Seeing Nathan get up, the others followed and started setting up camp. Everyone was soaked in sweat but n.o.body cared. After they ate and filled water jugs all the kids collapsed. Nathan took off his gear and hung it up. Howard walked over as Nathan poured the dogs some food and water.

”Nathan, I'm sorry. You were right, we would've died,” Howard admitted.

”If we were lucky,” Nathan said.

”Weren't you worried about them spotting us?” he asked as Jasmine and Jackie came over.

”Even if they had, I don't think they would've done much if we stood tall,” Nathan replied as he started checking his gear. ”They are mean and evil, but think of them like a dog with a bone. We were just a bone walking down the road. They had a bone, so why fight when you're enjoying your bone? Now if we had tried to take their bone then that's a different story. I don't think all of that group was together. I think they were a bunch of different a.s.sholes.” Nathan pulled out batteries to recharge.

Howard sat and thought about what Nathan said. Howard looked up as Nathan pulled out his solar recharger. ”How many more would've had to been guarding us for you to have turned away and not rescued us?” Howard asked.

”If all nine had been there, I probably would've left,” Nathan said. ”Howard, you have to judge your opponents and their numbers. h.e.l.l, I took on over thirty outside of Atlanta, but they weren't much of a threat because I engaged them at distance. They couldn't run because they had to hold up their pants with one hand and shoot a rifle with the other. Not much to be scared of but even an a.s.shole can get lucky. Those s.h.i.+t bags at the camp were dangerous. They had good equipment. But the first four were drunk and sleepy. I could tell by the way they moved. I still thought I was going to die but I figured it was worth the risk.” Nathan stopped to see if Howard needed to ask a question.